Dictionary of Sanskrit Quotations on Botony and Horticulture in Ancient India

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It is commonly believed that the Ancient Indian Sanskrit literature deals with philosophy and hence its themes are pertaining to the other World. This perception is based on an incomplete understanding of the rich canvas of coverage of the Sanskrit literature.

There is an inherent desire in a large section of the intellectual population in the country, to know more about the messages and prescriptions available in the Sanskrit literature, regarding the various socio-economic problems of the present day world. Scholars and public men are, often, in search of suitable quotations and ideas, that could be used in their public speeches and scholarly discourses, for bringing out the importance of classical wisdom for our everyday life.

I as a Project Director of Karnataka Historical Research Society, Dharwad, submitted a research proposal to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi. Main objective of the present research project is to initiate some intensive work in this direction. The Ministry was kind enough to appreciate the usefulness of our research proposal and financed it partly. We are grateful to this Ministry for their initial encouragement. After getting the approval from the Ministry, the project work was commenced with the collection of source materials like manuscripts, printed books on Physical and Technical Sciences in Ancient India. For this, I visited many manuscript libraries. I also discussed with many scholars and experts in different Physical Sciences about this project. On studying the collected source materials and printed books, technical words were selected and their meaning with explanatory notes wherever necessary were given.

Ancient Sanskrit literature of India. viz. Vedas, Upnishads, Puranas, Smrithis, etc., is a rich reservoir of wisdom and knowledge on different aspects of human life. An in-depth analysis of the Ancient Sanskrit literature reveals that it has laid down many fundamental theses and principles for the analysis of the socio-economic behaviour of mankind and that it has also provided many useful guidelines for realising optimum welfare both at individual and the social levels. It is necessary to recognise that it is these basic principles and guidelines based on the Indian Classical Ethos that are more relevant in our everyday life in the contemporary world, than those that are derived from the literature alien to our socio-economic and cultural setting.

Unfortunately, in the recent years, we have been so much overwhelmed by the thoughts, ideologies and perceptions emanating from the western ethos and literature that tendencies of ignoring our cultural rots and basic values, have been gaining strength. Therefore, special efforts are required to unravel the rich wisdom and knowlege that exist in our Ancient Sanskrit literature and are relevant to our everyday life. There is an inherent desire in a large section of the intellectual population in the country to know more about the messages and perceptions available in the Sanskrit, literature regarding various socio-economic problems of the present day world. Demand for such quotes and ideas cover wide ranges of subjects, such as Nuclear Science, Physics, Maths, Biology, Zoology, Chemistry, Agriculture, Industry growth, Environment, Education, Health, Human Resource Developemnt, Efficiency Management, Equity, Stability and Science and Technology.

With an idea of preparing Dictionaries of Sanskrit quotations on Physical Sciences, the National Institute of Vedic Sciences Trust (NIVST) which is in the field of research of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, Vedic Sciences etc.,has approched Sri. A. R. Panchamukhi - the Project Director of Karnataka Historical Research Society of Dharwad to publish jointly the five Dictionaries on Physical Sciences viz: Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Medical Sciences and Agricultural Sciences which were already prepared by him.

I hope both these Institutions would continue to unravel and bring to light the rich reservoir of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Ancient Sanskrit Literature of our Nation and publish many more research works for the benefit of the research scholars and thereby serve the Nation.

**Contents and Sample Pages**